Trust tread wear ratings?

[daepp]

I am looking for new tires for my wife's SUV. It currently runs the OEM Continental 275-55-19's.

When I go to Tirerack, they don't show the treadwear ratings of the tires. In fact, if you search within the website you'll find an FAQ basically dismissing tread wear ratings.

I am looking for good tires that will last more than 20-25K miles. My wife is far from a performance driver, so I have been looking for higher tread wear ratings. Is this not the way to go?

[Noah930]

I don't believe there is any standardization of tread wear ratings. So you can't really compare a 200 rating from Goodyear versus a 200 rating from Yokohama. However, you can somewhat compare a 200 rating from Goodyear versus a 300 rating from the same manufacturer (the latter should last longer than the former--that's about all you can say). It's a bit of a crapshoot, so just go for a higher number, in your case.

[masraum]

I have a special counter intuitive theory regarding tires.

By the grippiest tires you can get for every vehicle and every member of the family!

I drive spiritedly, and I put grippy (soft) tires on my car. I don't get many miles out of those tires, but they sure do make me smile.

My wife doesn't drive spiritedly, and I put grippy (soft) tires on her car. Because she drives so sedately, she gets many, many more miles out of her tires than I do in the same car. She's had the same tires for 4 or 5 years, and I've been through 4 or 5 sets of tires in that time. She's not concerned with her car cornering at max velocity, but I'm happy to know that if she needs to swerve to avoid an accident or panic stop, that the tires will perform better for her than any high mile tire I could get her.

My stepdaughter drives a Jeep Liberty. I put the grippiest street truck tires I can find on her Jeep for the same reason, when she needs to stop short, she will.

tires are a small price to pay for the safety of your family.

[daepp]

Sounds like good advice, but with her 5000+ lb SUV, we are not getting the mileage I would like if possible.

So if the ratings are BS between brands, how does one determine longevity?

[kaisen]

Originally Posted by DAEpperson

I am looking for new tires for my wife's SUV. It currently runs the OEM Continental 275-55-19's.

When I go to Tirerack, they don't show the treadwear ratings of the tires. In fact, if you search within the website you'll find an FAQ basically dismissing tread wear ratings.

Tire Rack DOES show the treadwear ratings. They are called the Uniform Tire Quality Grade (UTQG):

"The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Uniform Tire Quality Grade Standards (UTQG) were originated to provide consumers with useful information to help them purchase tires based on their relative treadwear, traction and temperature capabilities.

Manufacturers are not required to provide UTQG standards for winter/snow tires, deep treaded light truck tires and other select tires."

Anyway, those 275/55-19s are rated from 220 to 460.

Mercedes used Continentals (360), Michelin (220), and Pirelli (460)
The 'HR' rated Pirelli Scorpion Zeros have the best UTQG rating and are by far the cheapest ($179)

Good luck

[phoenix_iii]

I agree with getting the grippiest tires. Avoid a collision is worth the cost of admission, a short stop is much less painful then a contact stop, or worse.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by phoenix_iii

I agree with getting the grippiest tires. Avoid a collision is worth the cost of admission, a short stop is much less painful then a contact stop, or worse.

+1 go for grip. A few years ago I was driving my wife's car in the rain. Some moron decided he really needed to pull out RIGHT NOW. He could see me coming but I really think he was wanting me to hit him. The tires did a very average job of stopping and I almost did hit the jerk. I replaced the tires with better (more expensive) tires and it made a huge difference. Fast stopping ability is a very good thing.

[daepp]

Good points all.

As for grip, I am not going to get crappy tires - just want a compromise of decent grip and decent longevity - this is no sports car, it doesn't need race tires!